Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1067464,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1067464/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kisii CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Janet Ong’era",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13117,
        "legal_name": "Janet Ongera",
        "slug": "janet-ongera"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me an opportunity to make my contribution to the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020. I support the Bill. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for making a very wise and sagacious ruling that this is a popular decision and must go to the people. As one of the promoters of this Bill, I am very happy that you made such a ruling. There are many good things in this Bill. In this constitutional moment, Kenya is going through the greater good that exceeds the lesser evil. This constitutional amendment has not just come out of the blues or fans so that we say we are amending the Bill and the Constitution for the sake of amending it. We are amending the Constitution because many Kenyans have died because of lack of a level playing ground and equal opportunity, particularly in the political arena. This constitutional moment has arisen from what happened in 2017/2018. Many of us in the opposition felt that we had been cheated during the electoral process. We have come here because we want to create a level playing ground. This is why the greater good will always exceed the lesser evil. There are many good things in this Constitution which I do not want to belabour because many of my colleagues have spoken about them. I am particularly happy with the devolution of more resources to the counties. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am happy that there will be, for the first time, a larger amount of money, 35 per cent, going to the counties. This will spur more economic growth. There will be more hospitals, more labor wards for our mothers in terms of maternal healthcare, our children will get more access to education and many more things that we know that come from the good of devolution. Another benefit that this Bill brings is the fact that for the very first time we are going to devolve these resources right to the tiniest units and that includes the Ward Development Fund. I think it is a very good thing that we are able to give resources to the politicians who are at the grassroots. They are the ones who are with the people daily. Therefore, when our County Members of Assembly will be getting this money I think that there will even be a lesser number of people interested in coming to this August House. Many people will want to be there in the counties. However, there is an elephant in the room concerning this amendment. It will not be good that I speak only of the good without mentioning the grey areas. The biggest grey area is the fact that 19 constituencies that deserved to be given another constituency were omitted. Amongst this was Bobasi, one of the constituencies I was elected to represent as the Kisii County Member of Parliament. This constituency meets the criteria. If the basis is population, it meets that criteria. If it is the question of wards, this constituency has eight wards. Hon. Obiri, the Member of Parliament for Bobasi will tell you he has 200 schools to award bursaries in terms of CDF yet we know that there are some constituencies in this august House which have, say, 24 secondary schools only. It is a pity that Bobasi Constituency was left out. I understand from the grapevine that this constituency indeed was there in the schedule but unfortunately in the midst of midnight, I do not know which demon or devils sneaked in and deleted the constituency from the schedule. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the next thing I would like to speak to, which is a grey area, is Article 89 of the Constitution. I believe Article 89(2) and (3) need to be re-looked at. Moreover, when we The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}